This invention relates to an elastic knee joint bandage in a tubular form with an elastic profile insert encircling the knee cap in an opening.
Similar knee joint bandages are disclosed by German Patent 3,412,772. This bandage includes a profile insert partly encircling the knee joint on both sides with extension flaps. Reinforcements are incorporated in the extension flaps. These reinforcements are used to exert radial pressure on the knee joint from both sides. In another embodiment described in the publication, the profile insert is provided with a toroidal elevation near the opening for the knee cap which also increases the pressure on the knee at its position. As stated in the associated description, this is intended to make it possible to move the knee cap both inward and toward the outside of the knee. Therefore, a static action of the pressure exerted by the elevation on the knee is utilized.
An elastic knee joint bandage is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,505 that has an opening for the knee cap and in which pads are disposed in a position so as to prevent lateral shifting of the knee cap. To intensify the action of these pads, the knee joint bandage is provided with elastic bands that can be stretched around the bandage by means of conventional fabric-based hook and eye closures, which hold the pads in place. Therefore, this knee joint bandage also involves acting on the knee cap position by exerting static pressure.